Last Supper

It's that time of year - time to butcher the pigs. It's bitter sweet. Bitter - I really like these pigs. They are funny and nice and really personable. Sweet - Bacon, need I say more. Last night they got a real last super, courtesy of my mom who always saves her compost in the freezer at her condo and brings out treats for the pigs and chickens.

I Been Pigged

This is what happens when you stand too close to the pig's wallow while filling it.

Pigs and Branches

Our pigs like to play. When we add new straw to their bed, they grab it and throw it around. They run through their wallow and splash water everywhere. They bark and chase each other around the pen. Usually when these moments of pig-joy happen I don't have my camera on me. But tonight, when Jeremy was clearing some brush and put a few branches in the pen, I had my camera ready.

The Slopping

There is something really nice about watching pigs eat. No guilt, no manners. Pure enjoyment and total satisfaction. Tonight, Sammy nearly jumped out of the stall when she smelled the slop. But this wasn't just any slop, this was some high-end slop. Last night I attended a catered work event. At the end of the evening the purveyor of the feast told everyone to take some food home. I said "You know, I could take most of this home to my pigs." He said "Really?!" "Well, yes. Everything but the meat." So we grabbed a huge plastic bowl (huge, as in catering sized) and started to dump. Potatoes, broccoli, cucumber sandwiches, apple turnovers. I could barely carry the bowl it was so full. Here is a video of slopping, notice the tails wagging ...

Pigs Like Carrots

You may think, well duh! Don't pigs like everything?! They are walking garbage disposals, aren't they? Actually, the first couple of pigs we raised not only weren't big fans of carrots, they actually hated the carrots enough to leave the peelings behind in the slop trough.

Those first two pigs were named Porky and Sammy. They were great animals. Friendly and funny and energetic. Porky and Sammy loved pastries and melon rinds. My mom would save melon rinds in the freezers all week long to have treats to bring the pigs on Sunday. I would visit the "day old" bread shelf at the store and bring home cinnamon raisin bagels ($1 per 1/2 doz). Porky and Sammy would get down right giddy at the sight of me or my mom coming toward the pole barn.

Our new pigs are named ... Porky and Sammy 2. Very original, I know. We decided that Porky 2 is the boy because he is bigger. He is also brave and friendly. Sammy is a girl, smaller and pretty leery of us still. I'm hoping she'll come around. They are only 3 months old, so we aren't slopping them yet. We probably could, but I'm worried the rich foods would make their tummies upset. But Jordan wanted to start feeding them stuff other than the pig feed. I suggested she bring down a few baby carrots to try.

Porky 2 and Sammy 2 don't know their stall and run that well yet. They are smart though. The feed system is a metal container that they have to lift with a nose to get at the food. They had that figured out in about 5 minutes. They also found the water fountain. But the trough, thus far, has just been something to climb on. When Jordan put a few baby carrots in it they didn't react much. Then Porky, being braver, came over to check things out. One bite and he knew - this is a good, good thing! The snorting began and the baby carrots disappeared quickly. Sammy was slow to catch on and only managed to get a few carrots before they were all gone.

The next night when we came down, they ran over to the trough - smart little piggies. Jordan put in more carrots. Those were gone in seconds. (I must note that pigs wag their tails when happy and those tails were a-waggin'). Tonight I had left over pineapple upside-down cake from last weekend's in-law Easter party. I have no idea if pigs can eat pineapple. I know that tomatoes make them sick, so maybe pineapple, being very acidic, may not be OK. I tossed the pineapples to the chickens (who really are garbage disposals) and gave the remaining cake to the pigs. The reaction was priceless.

Both got completely in the trough to get a better angle on the cake. Snort, snort, snort - tails going crazy. As the cake disappeared, Porky 2 started to throw his weight around and push Sammy 2 out of the way. In less than 5 minutes the leftover cake was gone. They actually licked the trough. Too cute.

The video below is not of the cake-eating (I wish I had taped it, but didn't think to bring the camera down.) In the video my dad is off camera whistling at the pigs. Porky 2 is keenly interested in the whistling.

Piggies are Here!

Today we brought home two Berkshire pigs - one male and one femail. They are about 12 weeks old and weight about 25-30lbs each. They are still getting use to the new surroundings, but seem to like the run and fresh grass. Here are some pictures and video clips -

Slow Cooked Pork Roast

It is the last pork roast - sniff. We are planning on getting pigs this spring but that means waiting about 9 months before we have pork products again. For this last lovely roast, I'm going to slow cook it with homemade apple sauce and Dijon mustard. Here is the recipe ...

Slow Cooked Pork Roast

1 pork shoulder roast

1/2 c water

1/2 c applesauce

1/4 c apple cider

1/4 c Dijon mustard

Instructions

Place roast and water in slow cooker. In a small bowl, whisk together applesauce, apple cider and mustard; pour over roast. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Yummy sides that go with the pork are baby potatoes cubed and sauted with olive oil and Italian seasoning and twice baked green beans steamed then baked seasoned with Mrs Dash original.

Pigs don't Sweat

Which is one reason they wallow. The other reason is to kill off pests.

Last summer, when we had two pigs, there was a long period of very hot weather. We had multiple days in the upper 90's and a couple days that crested 100 F. Porky and Sammy had been wallowing and drinking water. But one of the days Porky decided to stay in the shade instead of heading out to the wallow, which was in the sunny. Problem was that even in the shade the temperature was over 90. That first day, we notice Porky not heading out but didn't get too worried.

The next day she got up once but then settle back in the shade. Then it got bad. She got to hot and tired and wasn't able to get up. Sammy was even getting nervous. She kept nudging Porky trying to get her up. We pulled out the bible - Story's Raising Pigs - and looked up what to do. My first thought was to hose her down. But the book warned against that. Apparently, if you spray the pig with cold water it can shock her and could cause a heart attack. The book recommended damp towels.

The next morning, Porky was still in the same spot and wouldn't even pick up her head. It was a work day and there was no way she would make it until that afternoon. So I decide, book be damned, I was going cool her off and hopefully get her up before I left for work. I took the hose, locked Sammy out of the pen (the pen had two section - under the pole barn and out in mud - separated by a gate), and climbed in. I put the hose up to Porky's mouth, which made her grumpy, but she did drink. I gently let the water run over her. She didn't like it, probably because it was so cold. She shifted and grunted. I alternated between letting her drink and cooling her off. After about 10 minutes, she finally got up. I unlocked the gate and she went out and got a drink on her own, then sat down the in the wallow. "You stay there Porky. I mean it." Off to work.

I emailed Jeremy to give an update. All day, both of us were nervous hoping Porky learned a lesson. When we got home, Porky and Sammy were shoulder-deep in the mud. Crisis averted.

Sayings

We have a lots of sayings that most of us don't the know the origin of. Like "the whole 9 yards." I thought it came from football, but then it would be "the whole 10 yards." I mean 9 yards is one shy of a first down - how is that helpful?! I've discovered, although I probably should have known it already, that many of our sayings come from farming. Over the past few years we have stumbled across those sayings, each time thinking "Oh, so that is where it comes from." Here are some examples.

One afternoon, Jordan came up to the house to tell me "Daddy needs you. One of the chickens is out." I hurried down and found Jeremy standing by the fence with George, a buff orpington hen; George was on the wrong side the run. Jeremy said, matter-0f-factly, "She flew the coop." We both started laughing. Fortunately George really wanted back with the others, so it was just a matter of cornering her and putting her back. (By the way, George is a girl. When she was still a chick I mistakenly thought she was a he due to her aggressive behavior. By the time we figured it out, George was stuck with the name.)

Last summer the weather was very hot for a couple of weeks. Pigs don't sweat, so they need wallows and water to keep cool. Each evening we would fill the wallow and spray water like a sprinkler. The pigs got so excited, running around, flopping in the wallow, chomping at the stream of water, snorting at us, eyes gleaming with joy. They were in "hog heaven."

When Notag, the alpha ewe, decides to go eat she walks to the pathway over the creek, stands there and baaaaa's very loudly to the others. Eventually, they all join her and head out to the pasture. When I come down to put out oats, Notag starts heading back to the pole barn and the rest follow. If she headed right into on coming traffic, I have no doubt all the others would "follow the herd." (The picture above is of Jeremy with Notag - she is a love.)

Slopping pigs is fun. Pigs love, I mean really love, to eat. When you put in good stuff - for our pigs it was melons - they would just "pig out." (This works also for "don't make a pig out of yourself.")

Every night the hens "come home to roost."

"Horse high. Steer strong. Pig tight." You may not know this one, it refers to a fence. You want it to be high enough that a horse can't jump it, strong enough that a steer can break it and tight enough that a pig can't figure a loose spot. Most of our fences are none of these things, thus we have sheep. The one exception is the pig pen, which was "pig tight" compliments of Jeremy's craftmenship.

A misnomer is the saying "pigsty". The pigs' pen, which is where they eat, sleep and have a bathroom, is not a pigsty, quite the opposite. The pigs actually keep there pen very clean. They always poop in the same location and sleep far from it. They push the straw around to make their bed. The wallow outside may look like a pigsty, but really it's a big mud bath (like at a spa). So a pig pen is not a pigsty.

Another misnomer is that chickens are "chicken." Chickens do spook easily. If you gently toss some berries or grass in for them to eat they squawk and scatter like it's a grenade. But they come right back, inspect the offering and start eating. When a person enters, a few come right up and say hi. If you make a sudden movement, one or more hens will bristle up and peck you, hard.

Our neighbors had roosters for a while, before we got chickens. Roosters are very aggressive. Occasionally the roosters would get into a "cock fight" making huge noise, all to impress the hens. Typical boys.

Speaking of guys doing guy things, Jeremy plays poker and I ask him not the "bet the farm."

And the last for this evening - "the best laid plans of mice and men" - because of all our sketches, lists, and discussions, nothing has worked out according to the exact plan, but 90% of our endeavors thus far have worked out, somehow.

Wilco

For a hiker it's REI. For a fisherman it's Cabella's. For a working mom it's Ann Taylor. And for a farmer it's the local feed store. Our's is Wilco.

Driving to Wilco I have a feeling of excitement because of all the fun gadgets, tools and yes clothes that I get to peruse. Not to mention, in the spring, there are baby chicks to visit (one of Jordan's favorite things to do - cheap entertainment). I also have a feeling of dread because I know how much money I'm likely to spend. A trip to Wilco rarely comes in under $100.

When I walk into Wilco, if I need help, which I usually do, I try to find Fred. Fred looks like a crusty old farmer and he knows everything.


When we got our pigs last spring we put a trough of water in the pen. The trough was just a toy to the pigs - they dumped and pushed it around and flipped it up in the air. So I went into Wilco asking for another alternative. Couldn't find Fred; got some young kid. I said "My pigs keep dumping their water. What other watering devices do you have?" The kid showed me bigger watering troughs. He showed me tools that keep the water full when it gets low. I kept saying "No, I'm looking for something else. Something other than a trough." Finally, he called for Fred. OK, now we'll get somewhere.

Fred walked up and asked what I needed. I said "I have pigs and they keep dumping their trough." I didn't even get to the question about alternatives. He said "OK" and started walking. "What you need is this." It was a small metal thing that you hooked the hose right up to and when the pigs bite on the metal thing it releases water like a drinking fountain. I said "But how do they learn to bite it." He said "They will." He said to bolt it to a fence post and he started walking to the hardware section and handed me the bracket and bolts I needed. And he suggested hooking the hose up along the fence post so the pigs don't chew on it. I came home, Jeremy and I hooked it up. The pigs, out of curiosity I suppose, walked right up and bit the metal thing and water came out. Problem was solved.

Of course I also had to buy pig feed, oats and chicken scratch during that particular trip - total $122.

Stats

We are coming into our fifth summer on the farm. We moved in May 2005. That first year we didn't do any farming. It was too late to start a garden, plus we weren't sure where it would go. The pastures were in awful shape - years of too many animals, multiple horses, on just 3 pastures. Fencing all over the place, with little purpose. So we spent the first summer getting organized and helping the pastures come back from near death.

We acquired our first farm animals in summer 2006 - twin rams. We got two sheep - a pregnant ewe and her yearling - in spring 2007. We have had a total of 16 sheep on the farm since then. 9 born here and the others were purchased. Three of the sheep died - two within just a few days of birth and one very sick ewe who died after two months of meds and veternarian house calls. We've butchered 5 of the sheep. So as of today, March 16th, we have 8 sheep - Notag, Lily, Patches, Daphy, Blacky, Buttercup, Norman Jr and Junior. We are hoping all the ewes are pregnant and we'll have a whole new batch of lambs this spring.

The one and only cow we had, we acquired from Grandpa Ed in the summer of 2006. Gladys was only with us for a year.

We added chickens to the farm in March 2009. We built a coop and purchased 7 chicks - 4 buff orpingtons and 3 light brahma's. One of the chickens turned out to be a roaster and was therefore made into fajitas. The other 6 are doing great and laying many more eggs than we can consume - we have 3 dozen in the fridge right now.

In May 2009 we purchased two pigs. The farm we got them from will take a while to describe, we'll save that for another day - let's just say it seemed more like a rescue than buying pigs to raise and eat. Pigs grow fast, very fast, and they were at 'market weight' in 6 months. We plan on purchasing two more pigs this spring.

You probably figured out that we have butchered a lot of meat - 1 cow (400 lbs), 5 sheep (? lbs), 2 pigs (combined ~500 lbs) and 1 chicken (maybe 3 lbs). That is a whole lot of meat for a family of three. We have two large freezers which are currently full of pasture-raised and humanly butcherd meat. Not to mention that Jeremy hunts - we have elk and deer in the freezers too. If the world as-we-know-it comes to an end, we're good (as long as the generator keeps running).